Category: JET Journey

From Purgatory to Placement: I’m Going to Japan

~ Katherine Price ~ Leave a comment

The Post I’ve Been Waiting to Write

Posted in: JET Journey

Photo by Sora Sagano

I got a call today.

I was waiting for an email. I refreshed my inbox approximately ten thousand times over the last two weeks. But it wasn’t an email. It was a call — from my consulate — and the moment my phone rang, I just knew. A sixth sense I’d been carrying around all morning, this quiet insistence that today was the day.

I answered.

They told me.

And the fastest yes I have ever said in my entire life came out of my mouth before they even finished the sentence.

The Hour Before I Had to Teach

Here’s the thing about getting life-changing news — it doesn’t wait for a convenient moment. I had exactly one hour before I had to walk into a classroom and teach.

I wanted to cry. I felt the tears right there, ready. But instead I smiled. The first real smile I’d felt in two weeks — the two weeks since alternate status had put me right back in purgatory, emptier and more uncertain than before. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been holding until I felt it release all at once.

I called my husband immediately.

“WAIT REALLY???” he said.

We were ecstatic. I ran downstairs and told my colleagues, who celebrated with me right there in the hallway. I called my family, who surprised me — no hesitation, no worry, just warmth and certainty. This is a chance and you’ve got to take it. Yes. Yes it is. Yes I do.

And then I walked into my classroom.

Teaching One Hour After Finding Out You’re Going to Japan

I felt awake for the first time in a while.

That’s the only way I can describe it. The alternate news had taken something out of me that I hadn’t fully admitted to myself — a kind of low-grade exhaustion that came from hoping hard while pretending to be fine. Walking into that classroom an hour after that phone call, I felt like myself again. Present. Alive. Ready.

I taught the whole class. I didn’t say a word about it until the very end.

And then I told them.

They clapped. They cheered. My students — my people — sat in that classroom and celebrated with me and I had to hold it together with everything I had because I was not going to cry in front of my class on the best day of my life.

I got home. I sat down.

And now the reality is hitting.

I’m Going to Japan.

Not someday. Not maybe. Not if the waitlist moves.

Japan. A Japanese classroom. A community I haven’t met yet. A language I’ve been chasing since an anime theme song woke me up in the middle of the night as a kid. A dream that started with an anime theme song and turned into a master’s degree, a JET application, an interview, an alternate status that broke my heart a little, and a phone call that put it back together.

I’m going.

I don’t know where yet. I don’t know what city, what school, what grade level, what my apartment will look like or what my commute will be or what I’ll eat for breakfast on my first morning there. I don’t know any of it yet and I am so wonderfully, completely, joyfully lost.

Lost in the best possible way. Again. Always.

This blog started as a way to document a journey I wasn’t sure would happen. Now it’s a record of everything that led to this moment — the waiting, the hoping, the alternate heartbreak, the sixth sense on a Tuesday morning, the fastest yes I’ve ever said.

If you’ve been following along, this one’s for you. And if you just found this blog today — hi, welcome, you picked a good day to show up.

Whatever comes next, I’ll be writing about it here.

We’re going to Japan—and I’m ready to be lost again.

— Katherine, somewhere in Arkansas, waiting for my placement 🌸

The Email That Changed Everything

~ Katherine Price ~ Leave a comment

(And The One I’m Still Waiting For)

Posted in: JET Journey

Photo by Pema G. Lama on Unsplash

I got my JET results.

I’ve been sitting with how to write this post for a little while now, trying to find the right words for something that doesn’t fit neatly into either a celebration or a disappointment. Because the truth is, it’s neither. And it’s both. And it’s something I don’t think I had a word for until I lived it.

I got alternate.

What That Actually Means

For anyone unfamiliar with how the JET Program works, alternate isn’t a rejection. It’s not a yes either. It’s a maybe, sitting right in the middle, asking you to keep hoping without any promises.

Alternates are real candidates. People move up from alternate to accepted every single cycle. It happens. It’s not a consolation prize. It’s a genuine position on a very real waitlist for something I very genuinely want.

I know all of that. I knew it the moment I read the email.

And I was still really, really upset.

The Part Where I’m Honest

I cried. I questioned everything. I replayed the interview in my head, looking for the moment something went wrong. I asked myself why I wasn’t good enough, which is a question I already know isn’t fair or accurate but felt impossible not to ask anyway.

That’s the thing about alternate that’s almost harder than rejection — rejection gives you a closed door. Alternate gives you a door that’s slightly ajar, and you just have to stand there and wait and wonder and hope and try not to go crazy in the meantime.

It felt worse than rejection to me in some ways. At least rejection lets you grieve and move on. Alternate puts you right back in purgatory — except this time you know exactly what you’re waiting for and exactly how much you want it.

My family breathed a huge sigh of relief when I told them. Mine was heavy.

The Part Where Things Shifted

A day after the news, I went to a cultural festival with some friends. I didn’t go to process anything or find meaning in it — I just went because I needed to be somewhere that wasn’t my own head for a while.

And somewhere between the food and the music and the people I love, something quietly settled.

This is not a no. This is a maybe. And maybe is something.

I came home feeling something I can only describe as empty but hopeful — which sounds contradictory but feels exactly right. My heart is still heavy with wanting something I don’t have yet. But it’s not closed. It’s just waiting.

What I’m Doing In The Meantime

Here’s the thing about being lost in limbo — you can either sit down and wait or you can keep moving. I’m choosing to keep moving.

My PhD program is in order. My classes are ready to go. If the alternate email never comes, I have a path forward that I’m genuinely excited about — researching how the Japanese language shapes identity and expression in popular culture, which is really just a fancy way of saying my InuYasha spiral found its way into academia.

But I’m still checking my email. Every day. With that particular kind of hope that feels equal parts wonderful and exhausting.

Both futures are real. Both futures are good. My heart just has a preference.

So Here We Are. Again.

Lost in the best possible way, once again.

Because what else can you do but stay hopeful? What else can you do but keep learning the language, keep writing the blog, keep showing up for the life you’re building regardless of which door opens next?

That’s where I am right now. Classes ready. Heart open. Inbox monitored.

Waiting, again, but differently this time — with a little more wisdom and a little less panic and the same stubborn hope that got me here in the first place.

If you’re an alternate too — hi. I see you. Pull up a chair. We’re in this together, again. 🤞

— Katherine, somewhere in Arkansas, hoping for an email 🌸

Why I Applied to JET (And Why Japan)

~ Katherine Price ~ Leave a comment

If you’ve read my last post, you know I’m currently deep in the waiting phase of the JET Program. This is the story of how I got here in the first place — including the part where a song from an anime is entirely responsible for a major life decision. No notes. No regrets.

The Part Where This All Starts (At 2am, Obviously)

It started, as so many great decisions do, in the middle of the night.

I was half asleep when the TV flickered on and a sweeping, unmistakable melody filled the room — the opening theme to InuYasha. I had no idea what I was watching, no idea where it was from, and absolutely no business being awake at that hour — but I was glued. Completely, irreversibly, embarrassingly glued.

Despite being a pre-teen with school the very next day, I did not go back to sleep—shocker.

Instead, as many of us do, I spiraled. One anime became five. Five became ten. Ten became a genuine obsession with the language underneath all of it — the rhythm of Japanese, its elegance, the way every syllable seemed to carry meaning before I understood a single word.

I know what you’re thinking. Anime girl. And listen, you’re not wrong.

But I promise it got bigger than that. Eventually.

The Part Where I Learn and Grow

I took Japanese in college, which is where things got real fast.

Studying the language formally — actually sitting down and learning to read, write, and speak it — only made everything worse. Better. You know what I mean.

I made friends I still have, including one in Kyoto who has shaped my love for Japan more than she probably knows. I read everything I could find about the culture, the literature, the history. I went down more rabbit holes than I can count.

And somewhere between verb conjugations and kanji flashcards — around the time I realized I was doing extra study for fun — I had to admit this wasn’t a phase anymore. It had become something I couldn’t ignore even if I tried, and trust me, I didn’t try very hard.

The Part Where I Get On a Plane

So eventually, my husband and I did exactly that.

Two and a half weeks in Japan, wandering and getting wonderfully lost in a place we’d both been dreaming about.

Spoiler: it felt exactly like I always knew it would — but also nothing like I expected, which is honestly the most “Japan” answer possible.

I could write an entire post about that trip — and I will, don’t worry — but the moment I keep coming back to is a woman from Uji.

We were lost — but honestly, in the best possible way. We were trying to find Byōdō-in Temple and failing spectacularly when she stepped in, our words doing their very best across the gap between her English and my enthusiastic-but-chaotic Japanese. We laughed at the confusion, she pointed us in the right direction, and somewhere in those few minutes, something shifted. We were lost in translation, literally and completely — and yet we walked away with something that made us feel more human than we had all trip. Connection, simple and unexpected, from a stranger in Uji.

Such a small moment. Yet, it’s the one that stuck.

I came home from that trip feeling restless.

Unpacking our bags, talking through everything we’d seen — it just hit me.

I couldn’t give this up.

The Part Where I Do Something About It

Which brings us here.

I applied to the JET Program — which I talked about a bit in my first post — because it felt like the most direct path from where I am to where I want to be.

I made it through the application. I survived the interview. I am now firmly in the waiting stage, refreshing my email every four minutes like a completely normal and chill person.

If JET says yes, I’m packing my life into suitcases and going.

If life takes a different turn, I’ll be starting a PhD in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, researching how the Japanese language shapes identity and expression in popular culture — which is really just a fancy way of saying the InuYasha spiral never fully stopped and I decided to write a dissertation about it.

So… What Now?

Either way, I’ll be here — writing about all of it, one post at a time, from one Arkansas girl who heard a theme song in the middle of the night and never quite recovered.

If you’re on your own version of a language spiral — or just curious where this one goes — stick around. I have a feeling this is only the beginning.

Welcome to Lost in Translation. I’m really glad you’re here. 🌸

— Katherine, somewhere in Arkansas, waiting on an email

Now We Wait: Life in JET Purgatory

~ Katherine Price ~ 2 Comments

If you’ve landed here, there’s a good chance you’re in the same boat I am — application submitted, interview done, and now absolutely nothing to do but wait.

Welcome to JET Purgatory.

For those who aren’t familiar, the JET Program (Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme) is a Japanese government-run program that brings people from around the world to Japan to work as Assistant Language Teachers, or ALTs, in Japanese schools. The application process is no joke — a detailed written application, letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose, and then an in-person interview. It’s a lot. And after all of that, they basically say “great, we’ll let you know” and send you on your way.

So here I am. Waiting.

What the waiting actually feels like

I won’t pretend I’m handling it gracefully. I’ve refreshed my email approximately 4,000 times. I’ve Googled “JET Program results 2026” more than I’d like to admit. I’ve had at least three conversations with myself that started with “okay but what if I don’t get in” and ended nowhere productive.

If you’re doing the same thing right now, hi. I see you. Let’s be anxious together.

The interview itself felt — I think? — okay. But that’s the thing about JET interviews. You walk out either feeling like you absolutely nailed it or completely second-guessing every answer you gave. Sometimes both, on the same walk to your car.

What I’m doing while I wait

Sitting still isn’t really an option for me, so I’ve been trying to channel the nervous energy somewhere useful.

First, I started this blog. If I’m going to obsessively think about Japan anyway, I might as well write about it. Lost in Translation is going to be my space to document all of it — the application, the (hopefully!) acceptance, the preparation, the arrival, the teaching, the language learning, the culture shock, all of it. Whether I end up in a big city or a tiny rural town, I want to write it down.

Second, I started — okay, re-started — learning Japanese. My current level is best described as enthusiastic but lost. I can say arigatou gozaimasu and order ramen. That’s about it. I’ve got a long way to go, and I’m kind of excited about that.

Third, I’ve been reading everything I can find about life as an ALT — blogs, Reddit threads, YouTube videos. If you have recommendations, drop them in the comments. I’m collecting them all.

What happens next

JET Program results are typically announced in the spring. When that email comes — whatever it says — I’ll be writing about it here. If it’s a yes, we celebrate and then immediately panic about moving to Japan. If it’s a no or an alternate, I’ll write about that too, honestly.

For now though? We wait.

If you’re also waiting on JET results, leave a comment below. It helps to know there are other people hitting refresh on their inboxes at 2am. And if you’ve already been through this — what did you do to survive the wait? I need tips.

Fingers crossed. 🤞

— Katherine, somewhere in Arkansas, waiting on an email.